The Crime Branch (CB) on Thursday directed actors Fahadh Fazil and Amala Paul to present themselves before the agency’s investigators on December 19.
The agency wanted to question them in connection with its expanding inquiry into the largescale vehicle tax fraud that has cost the exchequer dear.
Actor and Rajya Sabha member Suresh Gopi, MP, is also facing similar charges. He has moved the High Court for anticipatory bail.
The CB said the cases detected so far were just the tip of the iceberg.
More ultra-wealthy celebrities and businessmen who sought to save on vehicle tax similarly were under the scanner. So were scores of automobile agencies which facilitated the fraud to drive up sales. The CB has already charged one automobile showroom in Kochi for tax fraud. More indictments were in the offing.
The State government has flagged up the spectacular tax fraud as a massive loss of resources that might have benefited its social welfare programmes. The agency's summons servers delivered the warrants to the homes of the actors in Kochi.
The CB case is that the actors had fraudulently registered their super luxury vehicles purchased from local dealers in Puducherry to evade the 20% tax levied by Kerala on vehicles priced ₹20 lakh and above.
For the purpose, the suspects allegedly faked records to show permanent residency in the Union Territory.
The Crime Branch has charged the actors with cheating, forgery, and use of forged documents as genuine ones under Section 420, 468 and 471 of the Indian Penal Code. The offences are non-bailable and carry a punishment of up to seven years of rigorous imprisonment. They also entail arrest.
The CB said it had submitted only a bare minimum of facts of the case in the First Information Report (FIR) to avoid tipping the scales in favour of the suspects.
Transport Commissioner Anil Kanth had unearthed the scam. Inspector General of Police S. Sreejith is heading the probe. Puducherry is conducting a parallel inquiry.
